The iPhone hacking team has launched a new jailbreak tool for nearly every iPhone, including the latest models, using the same vulnerability that Apple said last month: It was under active attack from hackers.
The Unc0ver team released version 6.0.0 of their jailbreak tool this weekend, and says it works across iOS 11 to iOS 14.3, which Apple released in December.
The Unc0ver team describes how the tool has been extensively tested across a range of iOS devices running different versions of the operating system, including iPhone 12 Pro Max running iOS 14.3.
The Unc0ver team says: The tool uses native sandbox exceptions to maintain security while accessing jailbreak files.
The jailbreak process is a challenging issue between security researchers who want greater control and customization over their phones, and Apple, which says it shuts down iPhones for security.
Hackers build jailbreak tools by finding and exploiting vulnerabilities that can remove some of Apple’s restrictions, such as installing apps outside of its app store.
In a tweet, the Unc0ver team said it used their own exploit for the CVE-2021-1782 vulnerability, a vulnerability in the kernel that Apple said was one of three flaws that may have been actively exploited by hackers.
By targeting the kernel, hackers can get into the core operating system.
Apple fixed the vulnerability in iOS 14.4, which was released last month, which also prevents jailbreaking from working across newer versions.
It was a rare admission that the iPhone had been actively attacked by hackers, but the company refused to reveal the identity of the hackers and who they were targeting, and concealed the identity of the researcher who sent the error.
The team’s latest jailbreak, which was supporting iPhones running iOS 11 to iOS 13.5, was fixed within days of last year.
Apple is working quickly to understand and fix the vulnerabilities that jailbreaking groups discovered, as these vulnerabilities can be maliciously exploited.
Security experts generally advise iPhone users not to jailbreak as it makes the device more vulnerable to attacks.
